Circulatory assist devices were developed over a decade ago and provide assistance to a diseased heart by way of a mechanical pump. In this way, the circulation of blood through the vascular network is aided despite the presence of diseased tissue. Traditionally, these circulatory assist devices included an implantable pump, a controller (internal or external), and inflow and outflow tubes connecting the pump to the vascular network. The FDA has approved circulatory assist devices to partially relieve the symptoms of breathlessness and fatigue that are associated with severe heart failure and can drastically improve a patient's quality of life.
The surgical process associated with the circulatory assist device is highly invasive. At the very least, the procedure involves a thoracotomy, i.e., the opening of the thoracic cavity between successive ribs to expose the internal organs. More typical is cardiac surgery, generally known as open-heart surgery, where the sternum is cut and split to expose the internal organs. Once the thoracic cavity is accessed, the physician must enter the pleural space and puncture both the pericardium and the myocardial wall. There are great risks and an extensive recovery time associated with the implantation surgery. As such, the patients with severe symptoms are not healthy enough for the surgical procedure.
A transseptal cannula is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/256,911, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The transseptal cannula described therein provides greater accessibility to the circulatory assist device by minimizing the invasiveness of the implantation surgery for those patients who would gain the most benefit while awaiting a heart transplant.
There continues to be a need to implement additional features that would facilitate the delivery of the transseptal cannula and/or that would allow the physician to maintain control over the transseptal cannula device during the surgical procedure.